Tuesday, March 13, 2012

A lot of people are upset about yesterday's episode of Bade Achey Lagte Hain on Sony TV. It was the episode where a couple married for 6 months finally fall in love with each other and you know finally..ahem!!
Well, I do agree, this is most surprising for an Indian TV show. The producers have dared to tread where no one else has, so far. Yet, I don't think this particular show or any of the so-called 'family dramas' are meant for children. The other serials might not show physical intimacy but the violent thoughts, hatred, negativity, family members scheming and planning against each others are definitely not meant for children. How will you explain to your child the concept of child-marriage as shown in "Baalika Vadhu" or how will you explain why a mother-in-law should `plot' against her daughter-in-law or vice versa? Imagine an entire joint family (in-laws and children included) watching these MIL-DIL battles together! How will you explain family feuds over property? How will you explain murder for gain? What about adultery? It doesn't even have to be an overt show of violence like a murder - it is the body-language and gestures that children catch so easily - wagging a finger at someone ferociously, glaring, rolling of tongue (so common in Tamil serials) - don' tell me you don't see kids mimicking these.

I was so saddened to see my daughter and another girl of her age playing a game...that too on my daughter's birthday. My daughter was supposed to lie flat on the floor and the other girl would go running around and yell, "Ivo setthupoita" (meaning: "She's dead" - in Tamil)!! I stopped the two of them the minute I caught them playing this horrendous game. My 4-yr old daughter, obviously after one whole day of serious thought, came up to me the next day and asked me why I stopped them from playing the game and why one should not say "sethupoita"? I couldn't help but roll my eyes! I am very much embarrassed to admit in public I caught my so-called 'little angel' inserting a foot-ruler behind her shirt collar and pulling it in slow-motion shouting out a very appropriate "Eeyye"...No, no she doesn't watch violent-village movies...she only watches "Siri-Siri"!!

The TV channels are full of such negative ideas in various degrees and various forms. Leave alone children, such negativity isn't great for adults either.

Why is everyone so angry about one episode of well-shot intimate scene between a grown-up, married couple? What about those parents that train their children to sing and dance for `item numbers' in the most popular dance/music competitions So many babies in Hindi speaking families are affectionately called 'munna'/'munni' by their parents. Do these 'munnis' have any idea what it is to become 'badnaam'? Most of the judges of the shows (except a handful of them) don't bat an eyelid when children perform such numbers. They in fact praise them for the lively rendition of a badly-worded 'kuthu' songs. I have to tell you this. I once watched a boy, just 10-12 yrs old sing the popular Kamal Hassan song, "Ennadi Meenakshi" on some music competetion. My jaw dropped when the judge (I don't remember who it was), suggested that the boy should have brought more emotion and pain in his voice!! Right, a 10-yr old boy should definitely know about heartbreak by now!! The corrects 'aeyes' 'oohs' and 'aahs' of the raunchy 1980s songs carry extra marks (example? Come on, take any of those S Janaki songs. I will list them on another blog post).

Coming back to Bade Achchey Lagte Hain, the theme of the show and the timing itself shows it is not for "family viewing". There was a recent rule ordering all TV producers to shift their timings to after 10:30 if the show had adult content. Yes, the producers need to be careful when they repeat the episodes the next afternoon. It would be best to edit them appropriately.

There is no denying that adults definitely deserve their space and time to do their thing, after a long day's work. In my opinion, it is best done alone (whatever that might be) - after the kids are away at school or when the kids are fast asleep!
PS: Guardians of the Hindi language, I request you to please ignore any grammatical errors in the title of this post, as long as you get the idea!